>> i'm facing the tower. >> we see you. we're coming your way right now. >> and felix is safe. >> that was an incredible afternoon. i hope you got a chance to watch it here live on cnn. it was -- everyone was at the edge of their seat the entire time. >> including you. >> yes. >> including me. we're trying to run the whole thing sometime between now and 8:00 when we get off the air. we hope it happens. >> good to see you. >> i'm right here too, guys. >> here me is, my colleague don lemon. bye-bye. >> i'm don lemon. fred, have a great evening. we'll get you up to speed on the stories making headlines.

a man fell from earth from higher than anywhere ever. watch this. >> jumper away. >> that was mission control talking about that guy, felix baumgarner. he pushed himself 24 miles above ground with nothing but a space suit, helmet and parachute. he landed after a record freefall. so why did he do? well, for the adventure, of course. but there are a few more practical reasons, too. more on that in a moment here on cnn. speaking of space, the space shuttle "endeavour" finally crawled into its new home today, about 15 hours later than expected. crowds cheered as the 85-ton shuttle inched by on its long, slow journey across los angeles. it was supposed to arrive yesterday at the california

science center, but things like trees and utility poles slowed its trek. long-time pennsylvania senator arlen specter died today after a long battle with cancer. he was elected in 1980 and represented pennsylvania for 30 years. he was 82 years old. we'll have a live report from washington five minutes away. the deadly meningitis outbreak continues to spread, the cdc confirming ten new cases. overall 205 cases are confirmed in 14 states. tennessee particularly hit hard with about 25% of the cases. the victims received tainted steroid injections. a guy flying through the sky broke the sound barrier today as we've been reporting. people have been flying faster than the speed of sound since the 1940s. this guy today wasn't in an airplane, that's the difference.

he was just falling. an amazing daredevil sky dive that made world record history. brian todd in washington. brian, it was last week or the week before it got postponed. you've been following this through the stanning stages. you've met felix baumgarner. what an accomplishment. >> reporter: for the future of space and arrow space exploration, this really could be a milestone. it's just thrilling. the more you look at that video and you realize what the preparation involved, it really is just a thrilling moment in the exploration of the heavens. we can talk about the records quickly. he fell through the sound barrier. that's more than -- the mark is 690 miles an hour. he went 704 miles an hour, he may have gone faster. either way you cut it, he broke through the sound barrier. he jumped from higher than

anyone ever has, from 128,000 feet, about 8,000 feet higher than they expected him to jump and shattered the record by about 25,000 feet. what they're hope thing mission will accomplish is to judge just how well a human can survive? just a suit, whether it's outside a space vehicle or outside a high altitude plane. there could go a long way toward determining that, and that is the real milestone of this jump. >> we're seeing a real transitioning now of things that are away from nasa, and seeing more people do it independently. you have been inside the red bull mission control. it's not nasa mission control. are they scientists or just extreme stunt dudes here? >> reporter: not extreme stunt dudes at all. they recruited many people from nasa. red bull contracted out with an aerospace firm from california.

and these are all experts. the top people in the field of aerospace exploration, including many from nasa missions. so this was no fly by night group by any stretch of the imagination. they devoted a lot of time, money and effort toward developing the science for, this and you could tell every aspect of this, don, was planned almost to the t. the timing was planned to a t. and this was a really impressive feat. >> brian todd, good stuff. thank you very much. president barack obama and mitt romney out of sight today, getting ready for tuesday's second of three presidential debates. mr. mark preston is at hofster's university, the site of tuesday's debate, hosted by candy crowley. no surprise, tuesday's debate was the number one topic on the

sunday morning shows, mark. >> reporter: no doubt, don. in fact, as you said, president obama down in williamsburg, virginia today trying to do some debate prep to get himself running again. mitt romney in the suburbs of boston, hoping he can turn in a strong performance like he did two weeks ago. but they sent their advisers out on the sunday shows today. two of the top ones were with candy crowley. we saw robert gibbs talk about how president obama didn't meet expectations in the first debate. >> he knew when he walked off that stage, and he also knew as he's watched the tape of that debate that he's got to be more energetic. he's very passionate about the choice our country faces and putting that choice in front of voters. >> reporter: we also saw ed

gilipsie. he said this election comes down to president obama's record. let's hear what he had to say. >> the president can change his style, he can change his tactics but he can't change his record or policies. that's what this election is about. >> reporter: we'll have both candidates on the stage right behind me here at hofster university for the second debate. we'll have questions from the audience and it will be a little bit different than what we've seen in the first debate. >> my gosh, mark, how quickly this passes. i think we were at the iowa state fair 19 months ago. now it's only three weeks away before people head to the polls. we're doing these debates. how important is this debate? is it really make or break for the president, make or break for mitt romney? >> reporter: in some ways, yes, it is for the president, don.

he has to stem the political bleeding at this point. some people think that joe biden might have done that just a few days ago when he was able to forcefully talk about the administration's record, even though he was criticized for how he did so. president obama needs to be more forcefulexplaining himself. mitt romney is sonon a high and needs to deliver another performance. mitt romney has to win states like ohio. if he turns in another strong debate performance tuesday night, the headline on wednesday night is that the election has turned around. don? >> thank you, mark preston. appreciate it. mark your calendars and catch the second debate live right here on cnn tuesday night, moderated by our very own candy crowley. coverage begins 7:00 p.m. eastern. more politics now.

known for switching parties, former senator arlen specter leaves a lasting mark. he died today after a long battle with cancer. president obama said in a statement, arlen specter was always a fighter. from his days stamping out corruption as a prosecutor in philadelphia, to his 30 years in the senate, he was eindependent. he brought the same toughness and determination to his personal struggles, using his own story to inspire others. dana bash joins me now by phone from washington. dana, he had overcome numerous serious illnesses over the past two decades but he continued to work and work hard. >> reporter: he sure did. i remember seeing him in the hallways of the capital when he was undergoing treatment for his cancer, and he clearly was looking frail.

i remember sometimes him telling me, he still played squash that morning. he was so intent on keeping going and not letting what ailed him keep him down. it was incredible. you look at what happened at the end of his political career in the senate. it's similar similar. he passed the vote for the president's stimulus plan. he was one of three republicans to do that. that really cost him. i remember watching him go in and out of the democratic leader's office, seeing the kind of anguish on his face, knowing that he -- it was something he felt he needed to do for the smi and knew that it was going to be a very bad move politically. when he did decide to switch parties, he did it with his kind of typical candor that he dealt with everything in life. take a listen to what he said at the time. >> the prospects for winning a

republican primary are bleak. i'm not frprepared to have my 29-year record in the united states senate decided by the pennsylvania republican primary electorate. >> reporter: that was because the republican pennsylvania primary electorate was really angry at him. specter was one of the last remaining moderates in his party. and he wore that on his sleeve unabashedly. he was very proud of that. he was a republican for abortion rights and enjoyed working across the aisle with democrats. he was very open about the fact that he brought home millions and millions of dollars in federal government spending to his home state of pennsylvania for cancer research and other projects in pennsylvania. to the end, he just did not apologize for that. >> and the response has been just overwhelming online and people writing in to cnn talking

about him. and you talked about what a moderate he is. looking back, people will say he worked on both sides of the aisle. that angered people on both sides of the aisle. he was not apologetic about it. and even with don't ask, don't tell people were upset with him. we need more like him in washington. >> reporter: well, you know, he was a breed that didn't and does not currently exist that much anymore. and it's true on both sides of the aisle. moderates on the democratic side have been defeated by people more partisan this their own party. going back to specter, one of the more interesting things to note here is his service on the judiciary committee. for the 30 years he was in congress, he was on the judiciary committee the entire time. that's how he made his name. at times he was the chair, he was the ranking member, and you remember back in 1992, he really went after anita hill during the

clarence thomas hearings. that did not go over very well back home in pennsylvania. he himself said he almost lost after that. and another thing when you're talking about his record as a lawyer, going back even further, people might not know this, back in 1964, he was a lawyer on the warren commission looking into the assassination of president kennedy and he was one of the authors of that single bullet theory, which he wore proudly until the very end. >> dana bash, you know so much about congress in washington. thank you very much. coming up next hour, i'm going to talk with senator arlen specter's former communication director about his long career. and you have to see it to believe it. the former pennsylvania senator's love for standup comedy. that's next hour right here on cnn. moving on now. just about everyone who watched

the vice presidential debate has something to say about joe biden. the folks at "sln" did, too. on the road. so, what do you think? [ engine revs ] i'll take it. [ male announcer ] it's chevy truck month. now during chevy truck month, get 0% apr financing for 60 months or trade up to get the 2012 chevy silverado all-star edition with a total value of $8,000. hurry in before they're all gone!

and the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... working together has never worked so well.

okay. mark preston just talked about how important tuesday night's presidential debate will be. let's talk about it now with two of our favorites. elsie granderson is a senior writer for cnn and will cane is a contributor here at cnn. will, don't you work for -- >> "the blade." >> this debate will be moderated

by candy crowley. is it a debate that will make president obama's job harder? >> i don't think so. it think it will make it easier, because he'll have the audience to gauge and understand the energy level he has and have a more immediate impact on the audience. >> so it's like a performer, he can vibe off the audience. >> i totally agree, but for a little different reason. i was reading a review of the 2008 town hall debate barack obama had with senator john mccain at the time. they said he was dispassionate, he ambled when he chose his words. sound familiar? so i will say this, i agree with lz, the town hall format lowers the ball. i don't think people like head to head as much. it's more about connecting with

people. >> that was tom brokaw's debate in 2008. he talked about doing a town hall debate this morning on "meet the press" and he said it was very tough. he said something like, i'm paraphrasing, my condolences to candy, because it's a tough debate to do. let's talk about joe biden for a minute and go back to last week's debate. we knew "saturday night live" would have some fun. take a look. >> first of all, i want to thank center college for hosting us this evening. >> oh, boy, here we go. >> four years ago, president obama made a promise. [ laughter ] >> that he would bring down unemployment below 6%. >> oh, this guy. i mean. >> that's funny. and i have to say, do you think this will be old news by tuesday, lz? >> well, it's old news now. once you've been on "snl" it's

out of the news cycle. >> sarah palin and tina fey, you can't get enough of that. i still watch the clips. >> i mean in terms of having a more immediate impact in the way people view the debate. >> i totally disagree. look, i know you didn't want to ask me this, don, but you said it just now. we used to view debates through the prism of when they happen and the spin room afterwards, but now we have the internet. you're kidding yourself if that kind of parody doesn't impact how people view this. >> that's where i was going to go with it. because listen, good or bad, guess who people are talking about? they're talking about joe biden, right? and there are people who thought he was sort of a caricature of himself. but i think that most people --

i want you to listen. >> the fact of the matter is, he dominated him. people can talk about joe biden. but what i think people like ant him, he's authentic. you believe what he was telling you. the only thing we really know about mitt romney is that he wants to be president of the united states of america. >> and he said after that, what i thought was funny, he offered ryan an internship, that biden did. but that's what people came away saying at least it was authentic, it wasn't canned. and the people criticizing him are on the right, the people who like it are on the left. did he do his job, lz? >> i definitely think he did his job, because he put more fight back on the ticket. and besides just rolling his eyes and the laughter, and i thought there were moments he was rude, he introduced parts of the conversation that the president didn't do. he talked about the 47% and the

flaws of ryan as a candidate. the fact that he was against the stimulus but asked for stimulus money. romney had that big foreign policy speech and said the president didn't sign any trade agreements. paul ryan voted in favor of a trade agreement that president obama signed. so these were some of the things that came out. >> so in other words, when -- the criticism of this guy, when you said, he was rude, i don't understand that. i don't understand he didn't talk about -- >> really? >> no. he didn't call someone a name, talk about their mother. that's kind of what people do when they're having an actual conversation. whether it's someone on the right or the left. mitt romney was very aggressive in the presidential debate, and some people said it was bordering on rude. but guess what? he won that debate. you may think that joe biden was rude, but that's all part of the process. what's wrong with that when you're in a debate? >> well, people are rude. so you drew a correlation how

people are in real life and people are rude in real life, don. that's not necessarily a net positive. look, joe biden did dominate the debate, but he motivated both bases, the left and the right. the question is, how that rudeness might have played off with independents. i want to say one more thing that we might confused about what the word authentic means. i believe joe biden is authentic. but that doesn't mean unimpeachable or truthful. authentic and truthful are not interchangeable. when he carried it on to say they believe what joe biden says, i'm not sure that's a connection. they believe he is that guy, but not necessarily they believe everything he says. >> but the same thing about mitt romney, exactly that was a criticism on the left, is that he wasn't telling the truth and he was rude.

and that's the same criticism of joe biden. go ahead, lz. >> i was just going to say, i think the criticism about mitt romney is he doesn't tell the truth. you hear that more than -- >> you guys are saying the same thing. you're saying the same exact thing. >> no, no, no, no. we're just insinuated there were moments at which vice president biden lied. i think there were moments which no one thought romney was telling the truth. those are two different things, having moments which he could be possibly lying and looking at a guy saying he's always lying. that's the criticism against romney. >> i think we'll filibuster, because there's a story lz wanted to talk about -- >> i didn't filibuster. >> i'm not going to tell you what it is. >> leave them hanging. >> thank you, guys. >> thank you. pakistanis at their breaking

point after the taliban targets a 14-year-old girl. today they took to the streets. and a mosque falls victim to the fighting in syria. you can stay connected and watch cnn live on your computer. go to cnn.com/tv. ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you turn an entrepreneur's dream... ♪ into a scooter that talks to the cloud? ♪ or turn 30-million artifacts... ♪

into a high-tech masterpiece? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. we don't let frequent heartburn come between us and what we love. so if you're one of them people who gets heartburn and then treats day after day... block the acid with prilosec otc and don't get heartburn in the first place! [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn.

syria's government army retook control of an historic mosque in aleppo after clashes with rebel forces. the mosque now has extensive damage after the army set fire and ran away. meantime, opposition forces say another 202 people have been killed across syria. trying to assassinate a 14-year-old schoolgirl may be the taliban pushed it too far in pakistan. tens of thousands rallied today in support of malala yousufzai, who had blogged about the right of girls to get an education. >> we've seen a lot of rallies, gatherings for malala yousufzai this week. but i don't think there's any question, this one in karachi on sunday, one of the biggest yet. it's always hard to guess how many people are in these crowds.

but by my estimation, there's at least 20,000 people here, maybe more. this gathering organized by the mqm, a political party that's already fiercely anti-taliban. they believe the taliban poses an immediate danger to pakistan and point to the attack on malala. messages for mahalia, saying our prayers with with you. and a banner that spans 20 football fields where demonstrators are writing get well wishes. obviously a lot of support here for this 14-year-old human rights activist. but here is what else you're seeing, intense outrage and anger aimed at the taliban. >> i want to crush the people who killed -- who tried to kill mahalia. >> reporter: you want to crush the taliban? >> of course. they should take necessary action. >> we are praying for her.

>> reporter: it's that type of anger many here say could be a turning point in pakistan's fight against violent extremism. many here say it's time, not just for the government, but every individual to stand up against militancy. reza sayah, cnn, karachi. a celebration takes a terrible turn when fireworks that were supposed to go up, instead go sideways. and everyone, but her... likes 50% more cash. but, i have an idea. do you want a princess dress? yes how about some cupcakes? yes lollipop? yes! do you want an etch a sketch? yes! do you want 50% more cash? no you got talent. [ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card. with a 50% annual cash bonus it's the card for people who like more cash. what's in your wallet? i usually say that.

half past the hour now. a whole bunch of extreme adventure records were shattered today. this is not your everyday sky dive. austrian daredevil felix baumgarner, in nothing but a space suit and helmet, parachuted to earth from the edge of space, 24 miles up. during his 4 1/2 minute free fall, baumgarner broke the sound barrier. nobody has ever done that before. oklahoma has taken a hit from severe storms. people in the town of anadarko reported seeing a funnel cloud. 80-mile-per-hour winds brought down parts of a gas station in the town of springer, including ripping off the front of a gas pump.

fireworks going wild in india. instead of shooting up, some of them went into the crowd that had gathered to watch. it happened at the west lake international expo. five people are still in the hospital. america has lost one of the giants of the u.s. senate. long-time pennsylvania senator arlen specter died today after a long battle with cancer. specter was elected to the senate in 1980 and represented pennsylvania for 30 years, longer than anyone in the state's history. he was 82 years old. one of those who knew arlen specter well and covered him on capitol hill is cnn's chief political correspondent candy crowley. our fredricka whitfield asked where he was known as snarling arlen. >> and arlen specter has passed away. you covered him on capitol hill. you know him well, his politics, him as a person. why did so many call him snarling arlen.

>> he could be cranky. he doesn't suffer fools lightly. he was a very smart guy, very smart guy. a lawyer, he had been a prosecuting attorney. the history that he covers in his career, not just the senate, and i think he was there like 30 years, but he was on the warren commission. he was one of the attorneys for the warren commission, which looked into the jfk assassination. so just the time that he spent, all the supreme court nominees, because he loved the law. he was on the judiciary committee. he played such a pivotal role in selecting some of the supreme court justices that now sit on that bench and approving them. so he had such a span of history. he was also really got battered about in the end by politics. he started out a registered democrat. but ran as a republican. got elected to the senate as a republican, and at the end of his career, when he was getting ready to run for re-election in

the 2010 race -- or close to it. in 2010, he switched parties and became a democrat because the -- he felt that the republican party had left him. he was a moderate from pennsylvania and he was getting a -- was about to get a huge challenge from the conservative side and thought he might lose that. he switched to the democratic party, but in the end he lost the democratic primary and that was the end of his public career. but just a fascinating, smart guy who contributed so much to history and lived so much of it. >> candy crowley, thanks so much for that perspective. all the best this week. we'll be watching you tuesday night. >> thanks, fred. coming up next hour, i'm going to talk with senator arlen specter's former communications director about his long career. and you have to see it to believe it. the former pennsylvania senator's love for standup comedy. that's next hour right here on cnn. a robbery to tell you about.

an african king gets robbed and the country's crown jewels are swiped. [ giggling ]

[ laughing ] [ laughing ] [ laughing ] [ laughing ] ♪

rather than getting like royalty, an african king got a rude introduction in norway. thieves made off with his luggage, including valuable royal jewelry. cnn's international reporter joins me now. so how did it happen? what exactly happened? >> it's the last thing the king thought would happen when he went to this business conference in oslo, norway. thieves made off with precious ancestral gold crown jewels. we have surveillance video that

oslo police are looking at as a key part of the evidence in uncovering who these thieves are. you can see this guy walks through these resolving doors, stands around, and then this is the second suspect for the viewers. you can see her in the head scarf. he stands around with this suitcase and just makes off with it. and so they're still investigating who is responsible for this, in terms of identifying -- they think these are the two suspects, but they're looking into this case. >> why would anybody travel with this kind of valuables? >> it's a good question. the reason being is that king tutu is a really revered figurehead. when he makes these public appearances, he does so in his gold jewelry. you can see that bangle he has on. but that's just part of his presence, the way that he -- >> like a queen with her jewelry

and crown. >> it's the same concept. hope any they can find it. >> any chance he's going to get his royal jewels back? >> we'll see. in ireland, there's a big, huge mystery that is still long standing for over a century. since 1907, the irish jewels have been missing. >> all right. someone stole the royal jewels. thank you. appreciate it. the new york yankees' captain clutch is out for the remainder of the playoffs. derek jeter goes down and may take the team title hopes with him. that's next. ablet called my pho. anne's tablet was chatting with a tablet in sydney... a desktop in zurich... and a telepresence room in brazil. the secure cloud helped us get some numbers from my assistant's pc in new york. and before i reached the top, the board meeting became a congrats we sold the company party.

wait til my wife's phone hears about this. [ cellphone vibrating ] [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center, working together has never worked so well. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center, ♪ ♪ hi dad. many years from now, when the subaru is theirs... hey. you missed a spot. ...i'll look back on this day and laugh. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

it's called passion. and it's not letting up anytime soon. at unitedhealthcare insurance company, we understand that commitment. so does aarp, serving americans 50 and over for generations. so it's no surprise millions have chosen an aarp dicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company.

like all standardized medicare supplement plans, it helps cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. to find out more, call today. is the same frequent heartburn treatment as prilosec otc. now with a fancy coating that gives you a burst of wildberry flavor. now why make a flavored heartburn pill? because this is america. and we don't just make things you want, we make things you didn't even know you wanted. like a spoon fork. spray cheese. and jeans made out of sweatpants. so grab yourself some new prilosec otc wildberry. [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. satisfaction guaranteed or your money back. talk a little sports now. baseball playoffs, full swing. believe it or not, we're already six weeks into the nfl season. don is back. senior investigative reporter for "sports illustrated."

there's the new cover, "si" with the brooklyn nets franchise on the cover. i think they play at the barclay center, right? >> you got it. >> john, great to see you. it's been a while. let's talk baseball first. yankees are taking on detroit in the alcs. the yankees' highest paid player playing terribly and their heart and soul broke his ankle. what in the world is going on? >> a lot of drama. the good news the yankees are still in it, but as you said, alex rodriguez, trouble hitting and he's removed from the game on friday. the yankees win that. and last night, extra inning game, yankees make the comeback, but they lose the game and derek jeter breaks his ankle on a weird play. looks like he's done for the series. they're playing the tigers. the last 48 hours have been rough. >> what's going on with a-rod,

what's up with that? >> in fairness, he's coming back from an injury, having trouble hitting right-handers. he's 37 years old. he's just good during the 162 games but it's been a rough-go. >> everybody is tweeting me, saying show some love for the cards, don, because i used to live in st. louis. the st. louis cardinals, san francisco giants, game one later tonight. >> yeah. this is definitely the b-series, but they've won the last two world series. st. louis lucky to still be here. st. louis' best player for years and year was albert pujols and he left the franchise. and the giants have buster posey. it's been overshadowed by the yankees, but this ought to be a great series, too. >> nfl, let's talk about that, now. i got to work today and we're

right here where they play. i didn't even recognize some of my colleagues, because they were wearing the jerseys. the falcons won today. now undefeated at 6-0. houston also undefeated. what are your headlines so far this season? >> we're kind of in the meaty part of the season. the first part of the season was the replacement ref shenanigans. now we're in the adult section and i think you're right, the two undefeated teaming of this moment, the falcons are a great story. the saints with the bounty scandal. we've had five weeks of silliness and we're done with the replacement refs and now we're on to the meaty part of the season. >> can we talk about the lsu tigers? >> sorry. >> how did they lose last weekend? and what is -- help me out here. what's going on? >> they bounced back. i know you're an lsu guys.

it's a long season. they looked good last night, but obviously they don't have the honey badger. so that's -- they took a hit there. you wonder who can beat alabama. but it's only mid october. a lot of football to be played. >> it's just a gator thing. you know how that is. moving on, it gets better. can i ask you about the skydiver today, did you see him? >> on twitter like everyone else. >> do you think he's a modern day evel knievel? >> remember evel knievel and the snake river canyon? i love the return of the daredevil. we sort of went to x sports. now we have a real daredevil here. >> now you're like jumping from outer -- from the edge of space. it used to be you would jump

over cars or boats or rvs or something with evel knievel. did you have the evel knievel doll with the motorcycle when you were a kid? >> yeah. i was going to say how are they going to merchandise this guy? i had all the evel knievel stuff. you would replicate in your backyard. >> john, thank you. it could be a rough ride on wall street this week. we're looking ahead to that, and other stories that will make news in the days ahead. don't forget, wherever you go, we go too. watch cnn live on your computer, while at work or on your smartphone. ♪

[ male announcer ] how do you turn an entrepreneur's dream... ♪ into a scooter that talks to the cloud? ♪ or turn 30-million artifacts... ♪ into a high-tech masterpiece? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. yeah, i might have ears like a rabbit... but i want to eat meat! [ male announcer ] iams knows dogs love meat. ...but most dry foods add plant protein, like gluten iams never adds gluten. iams adds 50% more animal protein, [ dog 2 ] look at me! i'm a lean, mean flying machine [ dog 1 ] i am too! woo hoo!

[ male announcer ] iams. with 50% more animal protein. [ dog 2 ] i'm an iams dog for life. not a rabbit. woof!

now to the big stories in the week ahead from the white house to wall street. our correspondents tell you exactly what you need to know. we're going to begin tonight, of course, with the president's plans for the week. >> reporter: i'm dan lothian at the white house. the president has spent the weekend at debate boot camp in williamsburg, virginia. on tuesday he heads to his second debate at hofstra university in new york. the president trying to bounce back from that first performance in denver. he follows that by hitting the campaign trail the next day with stops in cedar rapids, iowa, and

athens, ohio, then manchester, new hampshire on thursday. >> reporter: i'm paul steinhauser. mitt romney spents parts of monday and tuesday getting already for tut night's big showdown with president obama. but he also pow wows tomorrow with top donors and aides at a campaign summit in new york city. two days after the debate, romney again shares the spotlight with the president as they follow tradition and both attend the al smith dinner in new york city. i'm poppy harlow in new york. coming up, a jam-packed week on wall street. we'll get some critical housing reports, including existing home sales in september. hopefully we will see continuing signs of improvement in the housing market. also on tap, september retail sales data that will come out as well as key inflation readings and a lot of big companies are set to report their earnings this week, including citigroup, goldman sachs, bank of america, coca-cola and microsoft. we'll track all of that and the week's business news on cnn money. >> reporter: i'm a.j. hammer.

the brilliant mind hit shows like "two and a half men" and "the big bang theory" will stop by. he will tell us about his new book. also we're backstage at "dancing with the stars." >> i like it, a.j. with respect to evel knievel, there's a new ultimate stuntman. you know only just a few minutes it took him for felix baumgartner to set a sky diving record, but it took a lot longer than that to get him ready to soar. i don't think you have to teach innovation. i just think you have to coax people out of their fear of trying to the innovate. everybody has creative abilities, but people just don't express them. i mean, i see people come in here that are afraid to try anything. you give them some classes and some encouragement, and they

have some success with their projects, and you see them just change. you see them light up. you see them say, wow, i really can do this. this is stunning. they're stunned. how do you get from here... let's say you want to get ahead in your career. to here? at university of phoenix we're moving career planning forward so you can start figuring that out sooner. in fact, by thinking about where you want your education to lead, while you're still in school, you might find the best route leads somewhere you weren't even looking. let's get to work. ♪

♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing a reason...to look twice. introducing a stunning work of technology -- the entirely new lexus es. and the first-ever es hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection. and the first-ever es hybrid. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities.

of the most highly recommended bed in america -- the tempur-pedic ergo system. treat yourself to the ultimate sleep experience and save up to $400 during the tempur ergo savings event. plus, visit tempurpedic.com for full details on our 0% apr financing with up to five years to pay.

don't wait. the tempur ergo savings event and five-year special financing end october 14th. visit tempurpedic.com now. tempur-pedic. the most highly recommended bed in america. you hear it all the time, tough see this, but you have to see this. as promised, we're doing to replay that amazing and dangerous stunt that happened today. an austrian skydiver, an extreme sky driver, rode a balloon to the edge of space, 24 miles above the new mexico desert, and, yeah, he jumped out. >> to be strapped in.

>> start reflecting a time of t minus one hour. >> couldn't get the parachute open. that is his problem. >> all the way to the rear. >> jumper away. >> whoo-hoo! >> so under parachute now. did he break the speed of sound as he hoped? here he is coming. and there you can see by the approaching shadow just about there, and down safely. >> world record holder! >> down on his knees.